Remove Carpet Stains - The How To -

Home
>
Home Improvement
>
Remove Carpet Stains - The How To

Remove Carpet Stains - The How To

Your short lesson on how to remove carpet stains: act fast. Carpets today (most) come with stain-resistant treatments, so spills can be removed if you get to them quickly. The longer you wait, the more difficult removing carpet stains becomes. And no, there are no stain-proof carpets - yet.

Spot Cleaning Carpets

Professional carpet cleaners will tell you that "spots" are removable, and stains are permanent. In any case, the appearance of carpet stains can be improved even when the stain cannot be fully removed. Follow these guidelines :

Blot up liquids, don't rub them in! Just use a clean white cotton cloth or plain white paper towels. When you have removed the liquid, rinse the spot with water and blot again until dry. Repeat this if necessary to remove more of the stain, but don't scrub, or you might damage the carpet and set the stain in more permanently.

With semi-solids, such as peanut butter, pudding and such, scrape and lift gently with a spoon. Rinse out the remaining spill and blot dry.

Dried solids can be broken up and vacuumed. Repeat this until it's all gone, then rinse with water and blot dry.

Stain Removal Guidelines

When you're not sure how to get out specific carpet stains, try water first, before you try carpet stain removers.

When you use a cleaning solvent, apply it to a cloth, then work it in from the outside of the stain to the center, so you don't spread the spot. The procedure is this: apply the cleaner, extract (blot), rinse, extract, and repeat until you can't get out more of the stain. Always extract solvents completely, then dry the carpet quickly when you are done. If any of the stain remains, deeper down in the carpet, quick drying prevents it from wicking up to the surface.

Carpet Stain Removal Secret

One of the best tools for removing carpet stains is a shop-vac. A wet/dry vacuum cleaner can quickly suck up spills, and more importantly, you can repeatedly flush the area with water and suck it out. This is more efficient than blotting with a cloth, AND less likely to cause damage to the carpet.

Steve Gillman has worked in the carpet cleaning industry for years. For more carpet-care information, and specific stain-by-stain removal instructions, visit http://www.HowToRemoveCarpetStains.com

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.gantdaily.com/news/43/ARTICLE/33139/2008-10-09.htmlcid=1255719081ei=mczwSN-qLoyQ6wPdhaXCBwusg=AFQjCNHd8isIWLBGiFNk697o_YDAjfECvwAG Thanks Lawmakers for Approval of bHome Improvement/b Consumer b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fGant Daily,nbsp;PAnbsp;-/font nobrOct 9, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1“Complaints involving bhome improvement/b or repair projects are one of the top subjects of calls to the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection,” b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-10092008-1603070.htmlcid=1255719081ei=mczwSN-qLoyQ6wPdhaXCBwusg=AFQjCNESU28Q27jnR-4FAvA4QcTqP7BZegLaw passes requiring contractors to register/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrphillyBurbs.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-10082008-1602497.htmlcid=1255719081ei=mczwSN-qLoyQ6wPdhaXCBwusg=AFQjCNFlltunoRaMhHCvy5DRrj4JplMuoQBill targets contractors/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrphillyBurbs.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255719081hl=ennobrall 4 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE4975PM20081008cid=1255482404ei=mczwSN-qLoyQ6wPdhaXCBwusg=AFQjCNE-tlOp1dBp9R1JW2vVl3QoKkTbEgimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=-G2r4mpD7_UJimgurl=www.reuters.com/resources/r/%3Fm%3D02%26d%3D20081008%26t%3D2%26i%3D6300403%26w%3D192%26r%3D2008-10-08T123922Z_01_BTRE4970Z5P00_RTROPTP_0_WALMART width=80 height=47 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Reuters/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1849121,00.htmlcid=1255482404ei=mczwSN-qLoyQ6wPdhaXCBwusg=AFQjCNGM74GxJURDn8zNE4wzzHfEERNrRQThe Financial Crisis Hits the Retail Stores/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTIMEnbsp;-/font nobr21 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1But a family budget tightened by a precarious economy has changed her bhome improvement/b plans. quot;I#39;m putting those things off,quot; Powell said Wednesday in the b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retail10-2008oct10,0,849551.storycid=1255482404ei=mczwSN-qLoyQ6wPdhaXCBwusg=AFQjCNG2ltOyJ92FDdimuwxj-__FiOIzIgRetailers spread gloom with weak September sales/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrLos Angeles Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255482404hl=ennobrall 918 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

home improvement - Google News